Prepayment electrical measuring instrument.



PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

F. CONRAD. PRBPAYMENT ELEGTRIGAL MEASURING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION nun-mm 24,1903.

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N0 MODEL.

INVENTOR I r roucr.

lay m Mm No. 757,439. PATENTED APR. 19, 1904.

p v F. CONRAD. PRBPAYMENTELEGIRIGAL MEASURING INSTRUMENT.

APPLIOA'IQON FILED JUNE 24,1903.

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gwmzsszs; m VENTOR F. CONRAD. PREPAYMENT ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENT APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24,1903.

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WITNESSES.

IIVVENTOR PATENTED APR. 19 1904.

l erre v TEST Patented April 19, 1904.

PATENT QFFICEQ H FRANK CONRAD, or EDe' woon PARK, rENNsYLvANiA .11wnsrm'e-nousn ELECTRIC eMANUFAo'rURIN COMPANY, A conroj- QIRATION OFPENNSYLVANIA r f i SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent No. 757,439, dated. April 19, 1904.

Application filed June 24, 1903.

To all whom/ it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK CONRAD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident'of Edge: wood .Park, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Prepayment Electrical Measuring Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to electrical measur- IO inginstrum ents of the integrating or registering' type; and it has'i'or its object to pro- Vide a comparatively simple and inexpensive prepayment mechanism which shall be certain and reliable in operation, and thus enablethe 1 5 user to secure exactly the amount of electrical energy represented by the valueof the coin or coins deposited in the instrument.

Myinve'ntion is illustrated as applied to a Westinghouse integrating wattmeter and will be so.descrihed,without any intention, however,of limiting its scope as regards the speciti'e type of instrument to which it is applied.

Initheaccompanying drawings, Figure l is. a front elevation of a wattmetcr provided with 2 5 my improvement, the front portion of the casing being removed, Fig. 2 is a view, partiallylin side elevation and partially in section, of the instrument and portion of easing shown in Fig. in Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic repre- 3 .sentationiof the trainof gearing for operating the registering devices. Fig. 4 is a detail sectional view oil aportion of the coin-chute and cooperating, wheel. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of electromagnetic means for making and breakingthe. ci rc iit of the instrument, and

Fig. a diagram of the electrical circuits of the measuring instrument and the means for making-and breaking thesame.

The instrument here shown, except as re- 4 gards the prepayment features, whiehconsti- Lute my present invention, is in all essential l'eatureshlike that set forth in Patent No.

608,842, granted to the Westinghouse Electric &,Manpfacturing Company August 9,

' L89,8,\, upon,an application ,liledloy H. 1; Davis and myself, the nainportionsof the instru- Serial No. 162,906. (No model.)

by means of which the instrument may be supported.

As above stated, the parts thus far enu- 'merated are the usual featurcsof standard Westinghouse wattmeters and operate in the usual way in connection with a counting-train to measure the energy of the circuit to which the instrument is connected. In orderto so utilize this instrument as to supply to the customer definite amounts of energy as paid for, I provide attachments which will be now described. The frame or casing 8'is provided at its rear with a coin-chute 11, the lower end' of whichopens into a receptacle 12, which may be of such dimensions as to hold the desired number of coins, the latter being re moved at desired intervals by any person having the. necessary means for securing access thereto. r

Projecting into the coin-chute ll. is an arm 13, which is pivotallysupported at itslower end and the upper end of which is normally,

held in the position indicated in Fig. 2 by a spring 14. A coin wheel ordisk l5'is mounted upon one endof a horizontal shaft 16 and .assrenon 'ro PREPAYMENT EL CTRICAL MEASURING msmumsnr.

is provided with a series of pins 17, which pro ect into the coin-chute in position to he successively engaged by coins dropped into the chute, the pins being of such number and so spaced with reference to the size of the wheel that a coin the size and weightof which i are suflicient toniove the wheel will cause such a degree of movement as will bring the next succeeding pin into position to be engaged by the next coin which may be introduced into'thc chute. 'lhgishaft 16 is so journaled asto'lie easily rotated by theforce due to the wei htot' a coin of )roper dimensions;

In order to guard against the eifective use of coins having smaller dimensions than those of the coins for which the mechanism is intended, I provide a supplemental coin-chute 11 at one side, of the wheel 15, the upper entrance 11 to which is of oblong shape and of such width that it will admit coins that are smaller than those which may be properly used, but will not admit coins of the proper diameter. The upper bent end of the arm 13 will serve to divert small coins into the sup-. plemental chute, but will be easily deflected by coins of proper size sufiiciently to permit such coins to drop into engagement'with the pins 17.

Rigidly mounted upon the frontend of the shaft'16 is a bevel gear-wheel 18, which mesheswith an idler-pinion 19, the latter beingjour naled upon a rod 20, having an enlarged por-' Suitabljournaled with its axis in aline ment with that of the shaft 16 is abevel gearwheel 24, which meshes with the idler-pinion 19. Rigidly connected to the bevel gearwheel 24 is a gear-wheel 25, which constitutes one of the train of gears 26. (Shownin Fig.3.) Thelatter, with the exception: of the gearwheel 25, constitutes the means for operating the registering-hands on the dial-plate 27 of the instrument.

The rotative movement of the disk armature 1 of the meter is transmitted from the spindle 2 to a spindle 28 by means of a train of gears 29, and the said. spindle 28 is provided with a worm 30, which engages with a worm-wheel 3]., and the latter drives the train of gears 26, as is indicated in Fig. 3. y

Adjacent to the lower end of the' rod 20 when it is in a vertical position with the idlerpinion 19 at its upper end are two stationary contact-terminals 32 and 33, and between these contact-terminals projects a spring-arm 34,

v the spring action of which tends to hold it in engagement with'the contact-terminal 32. It, however, projects into the path of.movement of the rod 20, sothat when the latter is moved in a contra-clockwise direction it will force the contact-arm into engagement with the contact-terminal 33.

. As will-be seen by reference to Figs. 5 and 6, the contacteterminal 32 is connected, by

"means of a suitable conductor 35, to one terminal ofa solenoid 36, to the other terminal of which is connected a stationary spring contact-piece 37 The stationary contact-terminal 33 is similarly connected, by means of a I suitable conductor 38, to one terminal of a second solenoid 39,the other terminal of which is connected, by means of two conductors 40 and 4.1, to one of the binding-posts 9, by means of which connection is made to .the main circuit 42, the energy of which is measured by the instrument.

The circuit through the series coil 6 ofthe instrument is made and broken by means of a circuit-breaker 43, the stationary contactterminal 44 of which is connected to one end ot' the conductor 41 and the movable contact member 45 of which is so supported as to be operated by an arm 46, the free end of which has a movable connection with the cores 47 .and 48 of the respective solenoids 36 and 39 The operation is as follows: Whena coin of the proper dimensions and-weight is inserted into the coin-chute 11, it engages the pin 17 on and when in its lowest position makes engagement with the spring contact-piece 37.

the wheel 15 which is at the time in the path of movement of the coin, thus rotating the wheel,

and with it the shaft 16 and bevel gear-wheel 18, the rotation of the latter serving to move the idler-pinion 19 a corresponding distance along the periphery of the at that time sta-' tionary gear-wheel 24. With the parts in the position indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 6. this movement of the idler-pinion will carry the rod 20 in a clockwise direction a corresponding distance, and the spring actionof the arm 34 will move it into engagement with the contact-terminal 32, thus closing the circuit of the solenoid 36 through thespring 'contact-piece 37 and the arm 46. This energizing of .the solenoid 36 serves to draw the solenoid-coresupward, and thus close the ci'rcuit-breaker and complete the circuit of the series coil of the instrument directly through the circuit-breaker. The insertion of another coin or of several such coins will serve to rotate the parts in the same manner to a degree corresponding to the number of .coins inserted,-and such movement of the parts serves to move the pointer 23 a corresponding distance,

and thus to indicate on the dial-plate the numher of coins that have been introduced. The use of energy by translating devices will nowobviously set the counting-train 26 inopera-1 tion, and since'the bevel gear-wheel 18 willnow be stationary the movement of the-counts; ing-train will serve to carry the idler-pinion and the rod 20 in a contra-clockwisediree tion, and thus move the indicating-hand23 until the amount of energy represented by the will indicate zero, and the rod 20 will move 'thespring 'contact-arm 34 over into engage .coins which have becn'introduced has been 'used, When thispoint is reached, thehand through the meter before the contact with the spring-arm 34 is moved into contact with the stationary ter minal 33 will depend upon the ratio of the counting train and. the degree of rotation which has been given to the disk 15. In order to move the rod through one revolution, two revolutions of the disk 15 will be required, and with five pins on the disk it is evident that ten coins may be deposited in the meter and be registered by the pointer 23. This will require two complete rotations of the gearwheel 24 in order to bring the spring-arm 34 against the contact 33. I p

more than ten coins be placed in the coinslot, the spring-arm 34 will be merely held in terminal 32 and the coins be prevented from passing down the slot, since the disk 15 cannot be rotated. As the energy is recorded, however, *by the meter, the rota- .tion of the gear-wheel 24 will permit the disk 15 to rotate, and thus pass the next coin through the slot when anequ ivalent amount of energy has passed through the meter.

While the details of construction shown and described are such as have been devised in the practical development of apparatus for commercial service and are therefore known to be desirable and effective, it is not desired or intended to limit the invention to such exact details, since variations therefrom may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention 1. In a prepayment electrical measuring instrument, the combination with a switch for making and breaking the main'circuit of the instrument andtwo eleetromagnets for respee tively and positively moving said switch to its circuit-opening and its circuit-closing positions, of a counting-train, a coin-actuated member, a device for closing the circuit of each magnet and for opening that of the other, operating connections between the coin-actuated'member and said device and operating connections between the counting-train and said device.

'2. In a prepayment electric wattmeter, the

, combination with a switch for making and breaking the seriescircuit of the instrument and two electromagnets for respectively and positively opening and closing said switch, of a circuit-controller for said magnets, a coinactuated member, a counting-train, operating connections between the coin-actuated memer and the circuit-controller and operating connections bet-ween the counting-train and said controller. i 1

3. In a prepayment-wattmeter, the combination with two clectromagnets for respec tivcly making and breaking the series circuit of the meter and a switch for making the circuit ofeitber magnet and breaking that of the other, of a coin,chute and a coin-operatcd wheel located therein and having a shaft. a l

device for operating said switch geared to said solenoids, a single core therefor and. a movable contact-terminal connected to said core,

of a coin-chute, a coin-operated wheel therein having a shaft, a switch for closing the circuit of eitherv solenoid and opening that of the other, a rotatable member for controlling said. switch geared to the shaft of the coin-actuated wheel, a counting-train and gearing between the same and the said rotatable member.

5. In a prepayment-wattmeter, the combination with two electromagnets for respectively making and breaking the series circuit of the meter and a single switch for making and breaking the circuits of both magnets, of a rotatable controlling device? for said switch having an idler-pinioma coin-actuated wheel geared to said pinion to rotate the controlling device in one direction and a counting-train geared to said pinion to rotate the controlling device in the other direction.

6. In a prepayment, electrical measuring instrument, the combination with means for making and breaking the circuit of an actuating-winding of the instrument, of a rotatable controlling device having an idler-pinion, a coin-actuated wheel geared to said pinion to rotate the controlling device in one direction and a counting-train geared to said pinion to rotate the controlling rection.

7. In a prepayment electrical measuring instrument, the combination with registering mechanism and actuating-coils therefor, of electromagnetic means for opening and closing an actuating-circuit, a switch for making and breaking the circuits of said electromagnetic means, a rotatable controlling device for Said switch having an idler-pinion, a coin-actuated wheel geared to said pinion to rotate the controlling device in one direction and connections between said pinion and the registering mechanism whereby the controlling device is rotated in the opposite direction.

8. In a prepayment, electrical measuringinstrument, the combination with a countingtrain, a rotatable armature and actuating-coils therefor, of electromagnetic means for making and breaking the circuit of one or more of said coils, a switch for opening and closing the circuits of saidelectromagnetic means, a controlling device for said switch having an idler-pinion, a coin-actuated wheel geared to said controlling device.

and connections between said conntrng-tra|n whereby the lateoidn'olling device m the opprr prepayment-wattmeter, the combidevice in the other di- 1 bination with a motor and a registering means device and the other to the registering means operated thereby, of aswitch for opening and and each movable independently of the other. closing the motor-circuit, two electromagnets In testimony whereof I hmie hereunto subfor respectively and positively moving said scribed my name this 3d day of June, 1903.

5 switch in opposite directions, a coin-operated r FRANK CONRAD.

device, a circuitcontroller for said magnets, Witnesses: and two sets of operating connections for said BIRNEY HIINES, circuit-controller, one to the coin-operated I :T.' C. MORSE. 

